The US aviation regulator has ordered inspections of the fuselages of Boeing 737 Max planes for possible cracks in a component. The Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive will affect an estimated 471 aircraft and follows reports of cracks in earlier Boeing models. The inspections, which will start from September, follow a similar FAA regime for previous Boeing 737 Next Generation models dating back to 2021. The FAA said on Thursday that no such cracks have yet been found in 737 Max craft but that the similar design and build process makes the model susceptible to developing them. Attention on engineering problems on Boeing planes has intensified since the disastrous entry into service of the 737 Max model, whose flaws led to the deaths of hundreds of passengers in two crashes in 2018 and 2019 before it was grounded worldwide.